Goodwill of Central Arizona

I’ve been to Goodwill stores all over Phoenix; I’m a thrift shopper! This one is by far the worst, dirtiest store in Phoenix. Go figure, it’s in a nice neighborhood but they’ve got trash blowing across the parking lot. Won’t be back.

Sadly, Goodwill has been pricing themselves out of the thrift store market. I don’t understand how they can price things so high.

This Goodwill is. eww, not so good.
Parking is really bad. Always. Period. There is a tiny lot with plenty of cars.
Space between shelves is so narrow that two carts can’t go side by side. Being a crowded place, it is very hard to move around. Public is regular Goodwill public, read — mean, not willing to move their cart away, not willing to step an inch to the side to let you take a look at what you want, etc. So either go early in the morning when they just opened or very late in the evening.
But even this would not have been the problem, if it wasn’t for pricing. I have no idea who does their pricing, but they definitely have no idea what they do. A deck of cards goes no lower than $ 1. Em. Really? Those heavily used cards, maybe some are not even there?..
Kids toys. Broken, dirty. No lower than $ 2 – 3, usually much higher. I saw some LeapPad shells without anything inside, just a plastic shell, priced for $ 5.
Books. Used and abused children’s books. $ 1.99.
They sell trash but price it as if it was gold.
Seriously, I find better deals in Savers. Not to mention, Savers is MUCH cleaner, MUCH bigger and you can actually BREATHE there.
This particular Goodwill checkout is slow and exhausting. They have no room for people to stand in line.

There are better locations, this one is OK. The key is to go on Thursday, which is «Dollar Day», where every price tag with the color of the balloons they have flying is one thin dollar (if you can’t tell the what the color is, just ask the staff). There are a few exceptions to the dollar price for certain colored tags (they will tell you over the loudspeaker, or you can ask). But there are EXCEPTIONAL bargains to be had. Dress clothes. Casual clothes. Shoes. Electronics. Appliances. CDs, DVDs. TVs. Bikes. Food Savers. Dishes, silverware, pots, pans… I could go on and on. You never know what you will find, and it’s fun. I go to several locations every Thursday.

Always keep in mind that «thrifting» isn’t the same as retail shopping. If you want nice n fancy, don’t thrift. You wanna find a good deal or two, then go here.
As thrift stores go, this one is well organized. Staff was willing to help. Prices were reasonable. I’ve been to other Goodwill stores who’s prices were higher.
I needed something to wear to a party and I walked out with two $ 10 dresses. Two dresses for $ 20?! I’m happy with that!
My only complaint is that the bathroom needed attention.
I’ll be back here again!

There’s just not a big selection. The parking lot was crowded but in the store it wasn’t. Friendly staff.
I found some cute juice glasses for $ 0.69 that’s it!

This location was clean, but another overpriced location. Not as overpriced and cramped as the former location on Grand/​Bell (gone now!)
The parking lot is always full when I stop by no matter the day or time of the week. I have had no good luck finding stuff here I couldn’t live without. Merchandise is blah.
Employees seem friendly.
Next to Trader Joe’s on Grand.

Here’s a flow chart of how Goodwill works:
–individual buys nice (new) item, pays full price
–new item gets damaged/​out-​dated/​is unwanted
–old item gets donated to Goodwill (for free)
–Goodwill marks up price to approximately ¹⁄₃ of its original value
–individual buys damaged/​outdated item for ¹⁄₃ of what it would cost to buy new
for most items (furniture, DVDs, shoes, clothes, dishes, etc), paying ¹⁄₃ of the new cost for an item that is dirty, damaged or faded, does not make sense.
Clothes:
–more women’s clothes available than mens
–heavy on t-​shirts
–often has a pretty good selection of scrubs, but they aren’t sorted by size
–jewelry is limited to «costume» jewelry like Mardi Gras beads and plastic bracelets.
Shoes:
–most shoes look very worn, borderline unwearable
–many Golden Girls-​eque pumps, limited otherwise
Sports Equipment:
–a whole slew of golf clubs, mismatched
–lots of tennis rackets
–seemingly no equipment for any other sports like softball/​baseball, soccer, etc.
Household Goods:
–cups/​mugs are 99c each. Most other thrift shops you can get them for 10c-​50c.
–nothing glass or ceramic appears to have been washed. Vases and bottles have remnants like entire leaves stuck to the inside
–paintings are drab, dull and sun-​wasted
–kitchen appliances prices/​descriptions are marked on the appliance itself with permanent marker. Good luck getting that cleaned off.
DVDs/​Movies/​Books:
–paid $ 5 each for DVDs. Unreal.
–the prices weren’t «marked», you found out as you paid at the register.
I’m just convinced that you could go yard-​sailing for better prices on household items, hit up Zia for cheaper records/​CDs/​DVDs, go to a second-​hand bookstore for more affordable reads, and go to a place like Buffalo Exchange to get quality used clothing at a moderately reasonable price.